There's no disputing it -- Ralph Gilles is one of the coolest guys in the auto industry.
But when does Fiat Chrysler Auto-mobiles' global head of design achieve peak cool?
That's easy: when his eyes are peering out from deep within a racing helmet, tracking the line into the apex of his next hard turn on a track in a high-powered Viper ACR.
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I've ridden shotgun with Gilles twice -- the first time, at the Sonoma Raceway in 2013, after his beloved Viper was resurrected from the trash heap of Chrysler's 2009 bankruptcy and lovingly improved.